Various devices have been developed to support conventional Christmas light strands in decorative manners. Christmas lights traditionally have been used to decorate Christmas trees. However other decorative uses for Christmas light strands have been found. Among such other uses, clips have been developed to enable Christmas light strands to be attached to structures such as the eaves of houses. In other uses, the strands are formed over wire or other structures formed in shapes, for example various animals, for use as lawn or window decoration.
Most uses for Christmas light strands involve extending the strand over a defined distance where the individual lights appear independently and not as a tight cluster. However tightly spaced lights have been found to provide special decorative effects. Light fixtures have not heretofore been commonly available to hold a cluster of such "strand" type Christmas lights in closely spaced or random patterns for decorative effect. A need for such a fixture has been recognized.
Light fixtures with fixed light sockets such as chandeliers are bulky, expensive, and are not often used for decorative holiday effect. Light fixtures that make use of Christmas type light strands have a defined shape and use, such as lighted stars for Christmas tree tops. These type fixtures, while serving well for their intended purpose, do not fill the need for a fixture in which a full strand or more decorative lights may be used in a random cluster for decorative effect.
An objective of the present invention is to provide a decorative light fixture that may be used to mount one or more strands of conventional Christmas lights in a closely spaced array for decorative purposes.
Another objective is to provide such a fixture that is versatile in that portions of the fixture may be selectively used to mount either Christmas light strand sockets or decorative lenses for decorative visual effect.
A still further objective is to provide such a fixture that may be suspended for decorative effect.
A yet further object is to provide such a fixture that is substantially transparent to enable transmission of light from within the fixture and provide a decorative external surface for diffusion and reflection of such light.
These and still further objects and advantages will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description and viewing the appended drawings.